I found my calling accidently, during a life-changing undergraduate U.S. history survey my first semester at Stephen F. Austin State University. Although I had intended to pursue a different degree altogether, I confidently changed my major to history after freshman year and never looked back. During my studies at SFA, I volunteered at the East Texas Research Center, took extraordinary courses in women’s, family, and public history, and completed an internship with Carolyn Smith at the Stone Fort Museum. I was especially fascinated by the field of public history, which seemed to offer a dynamic and creative approach to the subject I loved. At the encouragement of my mentors at SFA, I applied and was accepted to the public history master’s program at the University of Houston.

At UH, I was extremely lucky to be awarded a research assistantship working as the Associate Editor of Houston History. Collaborating with Dr. Debbie Harwell and the magazine staff was a profound honor. I even got the chance to publish “Remembering ‘The Mouse that Roared’: Eleanor Tinsley and Houston,” research from which I presented at the 2017 Texas State Historical Association conference.

My coursework, too, provided unique opportunities to explore how I might eventually plug into the field of public history. I designed a family history sharing website now in further development, conducted numerous oral history interviews, and made connections with colleagues I will cherish for the rest of my life.

The requirements of my degree also gave me extraordinary opportunities as an intern at the Carey C. Shuart Women’s Archive, where I processed the Missouri City Chapter of the Links, Inc. collection under the direction of Vince Lee, and at the Houston Fire Museum, where I organized and documented hundreds of collection items in museum storage. After graduating, I served as the Collections Coordinator, then as the Interim Director of the Houston Fire Museum. At the start of the pandemic, the museum closed for an exhaustive restoration of the historic building and I relocated to Cypress to be closer to family and friends. I currently teach and develop curriculum for U.S. history at the middle school I attended as a teen.

Marina Shimer currently serves as a U.S. History Teacher at Cook Middle School.